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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

DeepSeek-R1 vs o4-mini

o4-mini comes out ahead, 59 to 51 on our weighted score, though DeepSeek-R1 is 39% cheaper per token.

  1. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek-R1

    Released Jan 20, 2025

    51/100
    • ECI139.0
    • Price$0.70 / $2.60
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek-R1
  2. Our pick

    OpenAI

    o4-mini

    Released Apr 16, 2025Deprecated

    59/100
    • ECI145.6
    • Price$1.10 / $4.40
    • Context200K
    Full specs Remove o4-mini

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

o4-mini is our pick

o4-mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 59/100 against DeepSeek-R1 (51). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. DeepSeek-R1 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • Capabilityo4-miniCapabilities Index (ECI): o4-mini 145.6 · DeepSeek-R1 139.0
  • Lowest priceDeepSeek-R1DeepSeek-R1 $1.18 · o4-mini $1.93 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contexto4-minio4-mini 200,000 · DeepSeek-R1 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputso4-miniDeepSeek-R1: Text · o4-mini: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek-R1Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightDeepSeek-R1o4-mini
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%6473
Price25%4736
Inputs & features15%3570
Context window10%2432
Overall100%51/10059/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

DeepSeek-R1 vs o4-mini specifications side by side
SpecificationDeepSeek-R1DeepSeeko4-miniOpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)139.0145.6 (best)
ECI rank#104 of 148#76 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions71.7%79.6% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—36.1%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics53.3%81.7% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—19.6%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.70 (best)$1.10
Output$2.60 (best)$4.40
Cached input—$0.275
Blended (3:1)$1.18 (best)$1.93
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 11 providersOfficial OpenAI API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens200,000 tokens (best)
Max output32,768 tokens100,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesYeslow · medium · high
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model ID—o4-mini
API providers1219 (best)
ReleasedJan 20, 2025Apr 16, 2025
Knowledge cutoffJul 2024May 2024
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • DeepSeek-R1$12.20
  • o4-mini$19.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: DeepSeek-R1 or o4-mini?

o4-mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 59/100 against DeepSeek-R1 (51). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. DeepSeek-R1 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-R1 or o4-mini?

DeepSeek-R1 is cheaper at $0.70 input / $2.60 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). o4-mini costs $1.10 input / $4.40 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.18 per million tokens for DeepSeek-R1 versus $1.93 for o4-mini (1.6× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

o4-mini scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): o4-mini 145.6 (#76 of 148) and DeepSeek-R1 139.0 (#104 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (143.0–147.4 vs 136.2–140.4), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — o4-mini 79.6%, DeepSeek-R1 71.7%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — o4-mini 81.7%, DeepSeek-R1 53.3%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek-R1 and o4-mini yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, o4-mini leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

o4-mini has the largest context window at 200,000 tokens, against 128,000 for DeepSeek-R1. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek-R1 up to 32,768, o4-mini up to 100,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

DeepSeek-R1 accepts text; o4-mini accepts text and images. o4-mini handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

DeepSeek-R1 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; o4-mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

o4-mini is the newest, released Apr 16, 2025. DeepSeek-R1 came out Jan 20, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: DeepSeek-R1 Jul 2024, o4-mini May 2024.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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